I have been hearing about a non native fish, the snake head that has established itself in a series of urban ponds in FDR Park in Philadelphia so I thought I'd go check it out today. This is a series of 5 interconnected ponds that vary in size from 1/4 acre to the largest which is probably 2 acres. These are shallow, algae filled warm water ponds that are said to contain sunfish, carp, bass, catfish and these snakeheads that have begun eating their way across the food chain. Anyway, becuase of the shallow water and algae I was limited to top water fishing with poppers, sliders, hoppers because even my unweighted small streamers/wolly buggers kept collecting algae. I caught a few sunnies and a small bass but I did see 2 large carp and a 12-13 inch snakehead that I spooked while wading over to a fallen tree that looked like good holding water. I'd love to catch one of these on a fly. Do any of my fellow Philadelphian's have any experience trying to get these fish? I nice warm water diversion from the local "cold water" trout fishing at Pickering, Valley, Ridley, and the Wiss before the Schuylkill and Perkiomen bass fishing begins. do a quick web search of this fish and you may get interested too.

They used to have a bounty on Squaw fish out west...I guess they used to wreak havoc with the turbines in the hydro power dams..anyway it was something like 3 bucks a fish...they should put a bounty on these snakeheads...could pay for a new reel or something...flyfishing vigilanteism...gotta love it....

I live in Lewisburg, PA (Union County) I have been looking for places to fish for bowfin/snakehead. I want to catch bowfin because I find them fascinating and I want to catch snakehead to eradicate/kill them. If anybody knows of any places for either in a decent range of my area let me know by email (primus@ptd.net) or PM.

I stopped at FDR for a brief while tonight. No snakeheads. No bass either. One sunny.

I'll be back, and I'll get one of those damn things. I gotta tell ya, once you get by the trash, grills, and shopping carts in the water, it's a real pretty place. I was offered tons of fishing advice from the seedy locals, and after a few minutes, they offered a bit of their dutchie. I had to politely decline, but hey! Philly people aren't all that rude after all!